October 23, 2016

For months, Joe Garcia and national Democrats have relentlessly cast Miami Rep. Carlos Curbelo as a Donald Trump Republican — or worse — arguing that votes the freshman Curbelo has taken with the House GOP caucus make his actions more serious than Trump’s words.

In a debate televised Sunday, Curbelo tried to turn the tables — and compared Garcia to Trump.

“I respect women, and you don’t,” Curbelo shot at Garcia, pointing a finger at him during WPLG-ABC 10’s “This Week in South Florida.”

At issue was a secretly recorded tape last month that caught Garcia characterizing Hillary Clinton as sexually unappealing — which host Michael Putney played on air. That tape came out nearly a month before The Washington Post released a 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording showing Trump bragging about forcing himself on women.

“I said something stupid,” Garcia conceded. But, he added about Curbelo: “Everything he just said is completely false.”

Marco Rubio plans an only-in-Miami campaign stop Sunday morning: An event at a Doral Colombian restaurant with former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

The conservative Uribe is beloved by ex-pat Colombians who joined Rubio at the same restaurant, Mondongo, earlier this month after the South American country voted down a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The deal was put forth by sitting Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who despite the loss at the polls was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In two Spanish-language radio interviews last week, Rubio argued South Floridians should keep a loud voice on Latin American policy in the Senate. His opponent, Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, doesn't campaign on U.S. policy toward Latin America, he argued.

"If I'm not in the Senate, who's going to be the leader on these topics?" Rubio said Thursday on Radio Caracol, which caters to Colombians. (He praised New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez as his Democratic counterpart on those issues.)

Rubio will be joined by Miami's three Republican members of Congress seeking reelection: Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

"By now, most of you have heard all about Donald Trump," the Democratic congresswoman says in the minute-long ad. "What he says about women, calling them fat pigs, attacking people because of their religion, what they look like and where they come from. Insulting President Obama and threatening to tear down all the progress we've made.

"We can't let a man like that become president."

Wilson has been lending a hand to the campaign in person, too: She got a shout-out from Obama on Thursday when he campaigned at Florida Memorial University, which is in her district.

Voters in Florida's swing 26th congressional district will have two more chance to watch Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo debate Democratic challenger Joe Garcia on TV -- one in English and one in Spanish.

An English-language debate on WPLG-ABC 10 that was taped Friday will air Sunday. A Spanish-language debate on WJAN-América TeVé will take place Nov. 1, a week before Election Day, when thousands of ballots will have already been cast.

The two campaigns have been unable to agree to any other exchanges, despite a flurry of invitations from local stations.

Garcia has said no -- or not responded -- to invitations from WSCV-Telemundo 51 and WLTV-Univision 23, both of which Curbelo accepted. Curbelo chose a one-on-one interview -- rather than a debate -- on WPBS and did not confirm a date with WSBS-Mega TV. Garcia said yes to both.

The League of Women Voters invited both candidates to a debate. Garcia said yes and was told it would air locally on C-SPAN and WLRN radio. Curbelo said no but wasn't told the debate would be televised, according to his campaign. The League of Women Voters did not respond to requests from the Miami Herald.

Almost all of the invitations were also in Spanish. Garcia and Curbelo have faced off once in English, at their alma mater, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, but that debate wasn't televised -- despite being moderated by national ABC News reporter Tom Llamas, a fellow Belen alumnus. The two candidates also appeared in a Key West forum Monday that was live-streamed online.

Both campaigns have pointed fingers about the lack of debate consensus, with Joanna Rodriguez, a Curbelo spokeswoman, called Garcia "desperate to hide" from Spanish-speaking voters after Garcia turned down Univision and Telemundo, the most-watched Spanish-language stations.

"One Spanish debate on a cable channel is a disservice to the voters of this district who deserve a quality debate between the candidates," she said.

"I'm sure both Carlos' camp and ours agree that it's impossible to accept every invite," Garcia spokesman Javier Hernandez said. The Garcia camp called out Curbelo on Thursday for not attending a Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations forum that he turned down after trying to find a different date. Curbelo had already accepted an invite to meet with the local Disabled American Veterans chapter.

Curbelo might benefit most from more TV time, despite having more campaign money and political ads already on air. He was already vulnerable in the Democratic-leaning district before Donald Trump. Republicans fear Trump's candidacy could hurt down-ballot candidates, particularly for the U.S. House. For Garcia, it might be enough to ride Hillary Clinton's electoral coattails.

Both Garcia and Curbelo are Cuban American -- and bilingual.

This post and its headline have been updated with news that Curbelo and Garcia taped the WPLG-ABC 10 debate.

October 20, 2016

The political cavalry arrived Thursday for Patrick Murphy. His name was Barack Obama.

Obama swaggered into Miami Gardens purportedly for Hillary Clinton, the potential sentinel of his White House legacy. He’s in an unusual position for a sitting president: He’s more popular than his selected successor, who’s more than eager for him to act as her most prominent stand-in, especially to African Americans.

But polls show Clinton leading Donald Trump in Florida, which some political prognosticators have placed in the light blue “lean Democratic” column, no longer a toss-up.

So Obama did what he had to do. He ripped Trump for refusing to say during Wednesday night’s debate if he’ll accept the Nov. 8 election results — and for quipping Thursday in Ohio that he’ll accept the results “if I win.”

“That is not a joking matter,” Obama told the capacity crowd of 2,800 at Florida Memorial University’s athletic arena. “I want everybody to pay attention here — that is dangerous. Because when you try to sow seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. Then, you are doing the work of our adversaries for them.”

The president also passionately defended Clinton, calling her ready and capable to handle the Oval Office.

“Even in the middle of a crisis, she is calm and cool and collected,” Obama said. “And here is the thing about Hillary: No matter how tough the odds, no matter how much people try to knock her down, no matter how mean folks can be, she doesn’t point fingers. She doesn’t complain. She doesn’t whine. She just works harder. And she gets the job done, and she never, ever, ever quits.”

But then, the president focused on the guy who needs his help most: Murphy, the U.S. Senate candidate who national Democrats have all but abandoned.

A key LBGT organization in South Florida on Thursday endorsed Joe Garcia in his bid to win back from Rep. Carlos Curbelo the House seat that the Miami Republican wrested from him two years ago.

The Miami-based SAVE group, formed in 1993, said it was supporting the Miami Democrat because of his work advocating equality.

"During his term as congressman, Joe served South Florida's LGBTQ community admirably, garnering SAVE's Champion of Equality Award in 2013 for his sponsorship of the Federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act and his efforts to protect LBGT immigration rights," SAVE said in a statement.

Once in Congress, Garcia served as vice chairman of the LGBT Equality Caucus. He helped pass bipartisan legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, which extended protects against rape and domestic violence to members of the LBGT community.

"One of my guiding principles is that every person should be treated equally," Garcia said Thursday. "That's why I'm honored that SAVE would recognize my work in support of the LGBTQ community."

SAVE's endorsement of Garcia came six days after Log Cabin Republicans, an influential GOP gay-rights group, endorsed Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo of South Florida in their re-election races, along with five other incumbent lawmakers from across the country.

Hastings, a 12th-term congressman from Miramar, will be joined by Reps. Charlie Rangel and Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and by Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green of Texas in a swing through Broward County.

Almost 30 percent of Broward residents are black, forming one of the state's largest African-American voting blocs and a hub of a critical demographic group for Clinton to win the nation's biggest swing state in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

"With the rhetoric that we've heard from the Republican ticket, there can be little doubt how dangerous a Trump presidency would be for our country," Hastings told the Miami Herald. "We are here, first and foremost, to rally the African-American community in South Florida to elect Hillary Clinton as president and Patrick Murphy as our next United States senator."

Murphy, a Democratic congressman from Jupiter, is running against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Miami.

The congressional group's first stop was slated to be tonight at 7 p.m. to address a meeting of the Haitian American Democratic Club at Diecke Auditorium in Plantation.

Hastings and his Congressional Black Caucus colleagues had six events planned for Friday:

Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo on Thursday became the latest vulnerable Republican to take on his political party's presidential nominee in a TV ad.

"Forget these politicians," Curbelo says in his new, 30-second commercial. "This election is about you."

Though Curbelo never mentions Donald Trump -- or anyone else -- by name, the images on the screen show Trump and Hillary Clinton expounding on cable news. The Clinton screen then switches to show Curbelo's opponent, Democratic former Rep. Joe Garcia.

"Is this what we're teaching our kids now -- politicians from both parties bragging about offensive, crass behavior?" Curbelo says.

The Trump side shows an "Access Hollywood" video of Trump bragging about forcing himself on women. The other side shows Garcia -- an allusion to how Garcia was caught on tape questioning Clinton's sex appeal (though Garcia never boasted about his remarks).

"Degrading women," Curbelo says.

Next, the Trump footage turns to Clinton, now appearing in a screen next to Garcia.

"Lies and corruption," Curbelo says, this time alluding to the state and federal criminal investigations that engulfed Garcia's campaigns from 2013-15. Garcia was never charged with any wrongdoing, though his former chief of staff went to jail.

"This election doesn't need to be about them," Curbelo concludes, promising to "fight for you."

Curbelo doesn't support Trump or Clinton but has declined to say which candidate he'll vote for instead. The freshman congressman is embroiled in a difficult contest for Florida's 26th congressional district, which leans Democratic.

The seat is so important to the GOP that House Speaker Paul Ryancampaigned for Curbelo on Wednesday -- refusing to take questions that would inevitably be about Trump.

Sometime before President Barack Obama takes the stage for Hillary Clinton in Miami Gardens on Thursday, Patrick Murphy will get the microphone, Murphy's campaign said.

The president was an early Murphy supporter and this week cut an ad for the U.S. Senate candidate in Spanish. Murphy is challenging Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

Last week, Murphy also took part in the speakers' program ahead of Clinton's appearance with Al Gore at Miami Dade College's Kendall Campus, ripping Rubio on the day the senator said he was standing by Donald Trump.

Obama will rally for Clinton at Florida Memorial University. He's expected to tout in-person early voting, which begins Monday in Miami-Dade, Broward and other large Florida counties.